Two Pujols Puzzle Pieces To Go

Getting close on Albert.  

Thanks to The Brooklyn Met and Baseball Dad for supplying some of the cards I needed.  Still lacking card #122 (5 of 9) and card # 126 (9 of 9).

Any help would be appreciated.

Help Me Make Albert Complete

As you can see, Albert is missing most of his body parts, well, at least from the waist up.

I'm needing cards 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 from 2012 Panini Triple Play.

If you have any of these cards, I'd like to work out a trade with you to get them.

Let's make Albert whole again, from the waist up.

I Needed An Albert Pujols Relic

Since he's an Angel now, I wanted to add a relic to my collection. And until now I never had one.

I went for the 2008 Goudey because I think it's a sweet design, and I dig the colors. Plus, Albert just plain looks so cool.

Can't wait to see what kind of Angels relics he comes out with.

Where to Start?

I admit it, a small Albert Pujols collection was started several years ago. It was more like I'd set aside any Pujols card I came across as I ripped packs, keeping them all together at the front of one of the rows of a 5000 count box of trade cards.

And I have traded out a few of those, quite recently actually.

But now that Albert's an Angel I need to start hanging on to what I have left.

I don't want to go back and start collecting every card he has, that would be too overwhelming, there are other players I'd rather concentrate on. I will keep all his future Angels cards I come across, but probably won't aggressively collect him.

But of his Cardinals cards I decided to pick one design and try to collect all the variations of that design. Kind of as a representation of the FIRST HALF of his career.

I decided on this design:

2005 Donruss Diamond Kings.

This is the only one I have, so the collection will start here. I'll have to do some research to find out all the variations on this design. Any help with a checklist would be appreciated.

Any frustrated Cardinal fans or Pujols collectors ready to dump their Diamond Kings? Let's trade!

The Numbers on Albert Pujols

From Mark Whicker, ocregister.com:

Here’s a quick look at Albert Pujols, by the numbers:

He hit .300, with 30 home runs and 100 RBI for his first 10 years in the big leagues, every year, first player ever to do so.

For the past 10 years he has had more walks than strikeouts, and has only struck out 70 times in one season in those 10 years.

He has never had fewer than 643 plate appearances in any season and has led the National League in runs, doubles, home runs, RBI, on base percentage, slugging percentage and OPS at various times. His OPS has been over 1.000 eight times in those 11 years.

His .299 average and .906 OPS in 2011 were career lows, although both would have led the Angels.

He is a .330 hitter in postseason play with 18 home runs in 74 games, and a 1.046 OPS.

He has won three N.L. Most Valuable Player awards and has finished in the top five among MVP candidates nine times.

He has won two Gold Gloves at first base.

He is 927 hits away from 3,000, at age 31, and is 17th among active players.

He is fourth alltime in slugging percentage behind only Babe Ruth, Ted Williams and Lou Gehrig.

He is sixth alltime in OPS, behind Ruth, Gehrig, Williams, Barry Bonds and Jimmie Foxx.

He is first active in batting average at .3284, ahead of Ichiro Suzuki (.3256).

That’s all. Well, actually, that’s not even close at all.

But you National Leaguers already knew that.